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The Shape of Things to Come

Saturday, June 16, 2018

The Shape of Things to Come

I find myself at Champneys Health Spa for the weekend courtesy of my wonderful Son-in-Law.It’s the ideal place in which to write my ‘Look on Life’ on the shape of things to come as it’s a relaxed atmosphere which encourages & facilitates creativity & thinking.Knowing I was going to write about shapes, it’s amazing how they jumped out at me at every turn.The title made me appreciate objects more & I became conscious of what shape things were and why they were that shape - aesthetic, practical, accidental.

When items are suddenly popping up in front of you it’s because an increase awareness of said items. This is often referred to as the Baader-Meinhof effect.Normally, I wouldn't give a second thought to the shape of my dinner plate, but it’s become prominent this weekend & came up in many conversations & private thoughts.

Our brains are fantastic pattern recognition engines, so it makes sense that we refer to them regularly in our everyday language & use them to help clarify our future plans – the shape of things to come.

Life isn’t an object, so how can we give it a shape?I sorted this one out in the swimming pool.The water in the pool took on a 3D rectangular shape and it was contained by the tiled floor, walls & the surface tension between the air and the water.Without the containment, it would be floating around in the atmosphere in small globules & would be useless for swimming in.

So it is with life. We need boundaries in which to be who we can be & do what we need to do. If we drift in a globular existence with no real direction or purpose, we achieve nothing.For a short while, that may be appealing & actually I would recommend it every so often – to drift & do nothing is good for body, mind & soul.But to drift for long periods of time? Life is too short to go without purpose.

So, whilst swimming up & down the pool in a linear direction, I explored what shape life should be.It’s a bit too complicated to be a simple 2D, or even 3D shape.By length 16, I had arrived at the conclusion that life is like a helix. Double or even triple banded, spiraling, continually coming together, then moving apart.Sometimes getting caught up with another helix, sometimes travelling by itself.

Which way up your helix is, depends on which way you want it to be.It’s your Helix. If it is heading downwards you have the ability to turn it up; if it’s heading right, you have the ability to turn it left.Like a helix, life can be complicated but we tend to overthink it instead of enjoy & marvel in its many twists and turns.